Neal Hooks: Riots in Baltimore: Racism or leadership?

Urban blight in African-American neighborhoods is a problem in many of our major U.S. cities; resulting in areas of high local unemployment, rampant crime and broken families with little or no hope. Last week's riots in Baltimore were a vivid reminder of this. So, how do we deal with this tragic phenomenon?

Let's start with what's not working. According to the Heritage Foundation, since the mid-1960s and the implementation of President Johnson's Great Society, we have spent $22 trillion on the so-called War on Poverty. To put this in perspective, this is three times the cost of all the wars in the history of our country.

These programs were designed to eradicate poverty, but have dramatically failed. Today, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, the poverty rate is the same 14 percent that it was in the mid-60s. Even worse, these programs have resulted in skyrocketing black crime. The left wants to blame both of these outcomes on poverty and racism. However, back in the '40s and '50s when racial discrimination was legal and blacks enjoyed far less economic success than today; the black crime rate was lower.

Some counter with the claim that our prisons are teeming with black men due to racist drug laws. According to Jason Riley, an African-American reporter for the Wall Street Journal, this is untrue for two reasons. First, black legislators in the 1980s led the effort to impose tougher drug laws due to the destruction drugs were causing in black communities. Second, blacks make-up 37.5 percent of our state prisons. But, if you remove the drug offenders of that population, the percentage of black prisoners only drops to 37 percent. This is because violent offenses, not drug offenses, drive black incarceration rates.

What about leadership? In response to the situation in Baltimore, President Obama recently implied that he had several programs ready for Congress to act on that could help, but cannot get them passed.

Is President Obama correct? Are Republicans to blame for Baltimore?

Baltimore has a population of 622,000 and 63 percent are African-American. In 2012, President Obama won a whopping 87.4 percent of the city's vote. African-American Congressman Elijah Cummings has represented Baltimore for more than 30 years. Since 1969, there have only been two Republican governors of the state of Maryland. There has not been a Republican mayor of Baltimore for over four decades, and the current mayor is African-American. The City Council is 100 percent Democrat, and most are African-American. Finally, the state's attorney is also an African-American Democrat.

Even more interesting is the fact that Baltimore's police force (accused of racism in the death of Freddy Gray) is 48 percent African-American and run by an African-American police chief. And, three of the six officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray are African-American.

These facts underscore the incredible gains our country has experienced in racial equality over the past 50 years. However, they also proclaim that Baltimore is solely a Democrat problem. In fact, every single major urban center in America is run predominantly by Democrats.

So, is urban blight a race problem or a leadership problem?

I believe the black leaders in this country are destroying our black communities through well-intentioned bad policy. My next article will elaborate on this point, but I'll close with another quote from Mr. Riley. He says that if liberals want to help the black communities, they would do better to "focus less on supposed racial animus and more on ghetto attitudes towards school, work, marriage, and child-rearing."